“Riot Fest firmly established itself in 2006 as one of the best showcases for punk and underground music in the country.” Jim Derogatis, Chicago Sun Times

Five years. What does it all mean? Five years equals 25,336 fans, over 150 bands, 946 stage dives, 4 barbarian bouncers, 2632 cases of beer, 172 hours in line, 1 FBI Sting, 23 business suits and too many broken ribs. That, my friends is something.

In 2005 Mike Petryshyn started Riot Fest, creating his dream festival, the one he would want to attend. With one eye on the legendary Chicago punk scene and the other on the bands that inspire them, he started building the festival, with an ambitious multiple show/venue format. He put special emphasis on reuniting influential punk and underground bands who hadn’t shared the stage in years. In just five years, Petryshyn has made Riot Fest Chicago a can’t-miss series every October and will expand into Los Angeles. The Palladium, Key Club and The Roxy will field hand-picked line-ups from November 12-14.

Screeching Weasel, Dead Milkmen, Naked Raygun, The Adolescents, 88 Fingers Louie, American Steel and Teen Idols are confirmed for Riot Fest West. A limited number of 3-day passes will go on sale Saturday, August 22nd at noon PST via http://www.ticketweb.com for 75.00. The rest of the mind-boggling roster of bands will be announced shortly.

On the Chicago front, Apocalypse Hoboken joins the show at Congress Theater Friday October 9th with Murder City Devils, Dead Milkmen and others. For lucky pass holders who drew tickets, Riot Fest hosted the first secret show last weekend with 88 Fingers Louie. More secret shows are coming; pass holders to Riot Fest are randomly drawn to see a free show in our mysterious, secret lair. The first Drunken Bowling Tournament has just been announced at one of Chicago’s punk landmarks, the Fireside Bowl on Friday and Saturday, October 9th and 10th.